Will there be an oomph to the vroom after changes?

Greetings from Meru, where I’m based for the KCB Safari Rally this weekend.

The event is different compared to rallies of years gone by because of the following reasons:

The date. This is the first time in years that Kenya’s most famous motorsports event has reverted to its traditional Easter date. The Safari had been forced to conform to the Africa Rally Championship (ARC) status and could only run in September or October, and I felt that it had lost its identity and become a shadow of its former self.

Bringing it back to one of Kenya’s most popular holidays will definitely draw the crowds, and this will be good news for the Machakos, Meru and Laikipia economies.

The route. This will be much longer than previous ‘sprint’ events as the rally is this year not being monitored by FIA officials, so the Kenya Motorsports Federation (KMSF) has decided to add some innovations of its own like roadside servicing to cope with the long transport sections.

The timing system. Kenya motorsports is finally catching up with top championships around the world by using the same timing system as the one deployed in the World Rally Championship (WRC).

The one purchased by the KMSF from Switzerland was not ready in time, so title sponsor Kenya Commercial Bank has leased one for the Safari. This will bring out a significant improvement in the speed and accuracy of results delivered, and should also increase the possibility of the Safari Rally being reinstated in the WRC.

I will let you know whether these changes have improved the rally next week. One thing is for sure, the KMSF is on the right path, but like the majority of the sports associations in the country the officials need to clear up the politics within the federation before it blows up publicly.

As we’ve seen over the last few years, competitors will flock to a sport if it is run well, and we’ve been privileged to witness a tremendous surge of new sponsors and teams come in to rallying. Fans watching the Safari Rally will see for themselves that local motorsports is indeed very much on the resurgence.

AZAM TV ENTRY

Tanzania-based pay television station Azam made their entry into live sports broadcasting in Kenya last weekend.

The start up station, broadcast rights holders of the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) Premier League, showed live on Sunday the match involving Shabana and Homeboyz that ended in a three-all draw.

From the quality of the league, you can tell straightaway that the it is inferior to the Kenyan Premier League, and there’s already been a walkover after Modern Coast gained three points after West Kenya Sugar failed to turn up.

Controversial team Shabana still remain top of the league heading into this weekend’s fixtures, which will feature FC Talanta against Zoo Kericho today and Posta Rangers versus Agrochemicals tomorrow.

Meanwhile, FKF President Sam Nyamweya found himself in the Ethics and Anti Corruption Commission report for alleged embezzlement of Federation funds, but remained adamant that he is going nowhere as he claimed that the FKF is not a government institution.

As for the Kenya Premier League, several matches were played last weekend and this week to catch up on fixtures missed to due to the recent court order that suspended the competition.

For the first time in their history, Bandari top the table, and this came after an impressive midweek away win for the coast-based outfit.

This weekend’s stand out games will feature Chemilil Sugar against Tusker at the Awasi Ground today, while tomorrow AFC Leopards travel to Mumias to face Thika United, with Ingwe’s players and coach on a go slow due to unpaid allowances.

CRACKER

Monday features what should be a cracker of a match between pacesetters Bandari and Ulinzi.

Off the pitch, KPL champions Gor Mahia are in severe financial problems, with their image coming to haunt them.

Despite President Uhuru Kenyatta’s earlier promise, it appears that he cannot deliver a long-term sponsor.

The team had a fundraiser at Nairobi Club during the week targeting raising Sh5 million for their African Champions League match this weekend in Congo and could only raise 10 percent of that, with KPL team Bandari contributing Sh50,000.

City Stars made a promise to hand over their gate receipts from their last league match against Bandari, and after expenses handed the team just Sh8,000.

Last time former presidential candidate Peter Kenneth funded K’Ogalo’s trip to Madagascar, but it appears he has other issues to deal with, including supporting candidate Ronny Osumba in the forthcoming FKF elections.

If Gor miss tomorrow’s game there will be severe repercussions from Confederations of African Football, including a hefty fine for the club along with a possible ban.

The KPL should have bailed out the team during the week, as they are the defending champions.

The KPL has the resources and they could work out an arrangement with the club to pay them back, possibly through gate receipts.

In the meantime, the governing body FKF lived up to their promise and this week released another Sh1 million each to their clubs, which added to the initial one million grant handed to the clubs.

SAFARICOM SPONSORSHIP

Following Safaricom’s confirmation that they have withdrawn all sponsorship from rugby, it’s time for new chairman Richard Omwela and his board to think long and hard about how to rescue the image of the sport that has taken a severe dent in recent years.

Omwela was aware that this would be a long, hard slog to steer the sport in the right direction following major spats between factions within the board that led to resignations of directors, national sevens coach Paul Treu, and also caused a strike amongst the core players of the sevens squad that nearly brought the team to its knees.

Rugby has no choice but to prove to the current sponsors that the board is now stable and is looking to streamline the running of the sport.

There is a CEO and a CFO in charge of the day-to-day running of the board, and Omwela has to now put his words into practice by delinking the directors from any daily ‘interference’.

Menengai Group has continued their heavy presence in rugby by sponsoring this weekend’s Nakuru 10s tournament.

Other sponsors should be encouraged to go along this path and see that rugby is indeed a viable sponsorship option.